Has anyone seen this documentary? I have not, but really want to... but I did see an interview with the film maker. She talked about how the US has not ever had the greatest test scores compared to the rest of the world, yet has produced some of the greatest innovations and technology. She said that China is studying what we were doing in the past when our test scores were low, but our work force was creative and successful while they had high test scores but not so successful graduates. They are not interested in what we are doing now because our test scores are going up but we are really just teaching kids to take tests and nothing else that will help them succeed in the future.

I know this is an oversimplification of what she said.. and I probably didn't explain it exactly as she said... but it really got me thinking.

DeAnnI have not seen the documentary, but your comments spark interesting thoughts. I think in trying to make sure that all students succeed and no one is left behind, we have settled for mediocre for everyone. That leaves students at the top who would be the innovators and creators without the support they need to grow as well.

I see two distinct sets of students. Those that are the high achievers. Funny, this concept is pushed so hard on t-net. Nothing but being the best you can be in academics because that should come first is highly pushed. Those that aren't. These sets of students will come into play when I discuss high school.

I saw elementary schools (and do see it now), pushing tons of outside of school work on students. Often times work that the student can not independently do. Often times taking hours on end in elementary school. Not all buy into it. Those that don't are seen as the students whose parents don't care or students that don't care. Problem is, many of these young children are putting in longer days than the teachers are contracted to put in. One can say the Chinese kids do that so what is the problem. The problem is, when we were an innovative,creative superpower the kids weren't getting homework loads like this. The Chinese haven't been an innovative, creative super power in a long time. They tend to take and replicate technology. They are great at doing exactly what they are told. Way different skills sets.

Now at the ms and high school level it is time to choose. Honors/AP or regular education. What a night and day choice for kids. I can speak of our district in saying the only courses that really prepare the kids for college is the honors class. Sure gen ed will give you high enough grades to get into college and mostly OK SAT scores, it doesn't give the skills necessary to do well in college. It is a tough road for those kids to make the leap. Some do well, many others don't, but little do we hear about he drop outs. Now the Honors/AP group end up giving up their lives. The work load is staggaring. These are the kids that Race to Nowhere discusses in HS. Those that are the high achieving students that would be glazed over board in regular classes that get little to no homework. These are the same kids that actually did all of that homework in elementary school because they were told that is what you do. If it is assigned you respect the authority and experience of the teacher and do what is given. These kids are going to school and studying an additional 6-8 hours after school. They also need to be involved in clubs, activities, and now even jobs to look good for univeristy. Since university applictions are up even at state schools, the expectation is top grades, top classes, and top everything if you want to go to college.

That is what the movie is about. The robbing of life experiences for an education that supposedly is "superior" to that of 20 years ago. What they found out is there is no way a student can actually handle the workload without cheating. Since behavior grades are built into so many classes (even AP) and some kids are taking 5 AP classes because there is only gen ed or AP, they can't even decide if the homework assigned is irrelevant to them because they have already mastered the skills. If they don't do the work it is an automatic zero which is mostly unrecoverable. Colleges don't like to see poor grades in AP classes. So, students cheat. APs have become open to all and many kids in the classes don't have the skills. So, they cheat their way through. AT many schools kids aren't even passing their end of the year AP tests. They might have good grades (all assigned by the teacher not specified in the AP program), but they fail the AP test miserably.

So, what happened to college prep classes that had higher level learning, more in depth learning, but reasonable homework loads? What happened to allowing kids to have time to explore, have friends, have family time?

Could you imagine 20 hour days and the expectation to be in the top classes, in sports, in clubs, hold a job, be upbeat and friendly so you have a social circle, hold offices, etc? What does a teacher say to a student when they let something slide? Are they understanding? Why homework over holidays, spring break, winter break, summer?

I'm honestly surprised more kids haven't gone bonkers. If you want HS classes in which your eyes won't glaze over, you must give up your life. If you take less chanllenging ones and you are highly intelligent, you are doing a disservice to yourself. You could do better and you are being lazy. This is what we are telling kids every step of the way. Often it is to motivate the poor performers, but the high achievers hear the message too. The only acceptable thing is to be the best in everything you do. Everything else is failure.